6.08.2010

I told Charlie I'd decided on a new color for the front door. He said, "Haint blue?" to which I replied, "Only if haint blue is hydrangea blue." Turns out, they're pretty much the same blue. Haint blue is sky blue, but if you look at the sky on multiple clear days, there's always a nuance of change. My favorite sky blue is the electric blue that leans slightly towards the red end of blues, which happens to also be the hydrangea blue I was thinking about.

In case you didn't make it over to the Sherwin Williams site yesterday to hear about haint, here's the more interesting tidbits:

There are numerous theories as to why [Southern US porch ceilings have been painted blue]— from fooling spiders and wasps into thinking the ceiling is the sky, to blue being a harbinger of good luck, to the color extending daylight, to scaring away evil spirits.

But many Southerners suggest that blue porch ceilings originated out of the fear of haints. Southerners, especially in the area of South Carolina, have a name for the ceiling paint used on porches — the soft blue-green is referred to as “Haint Blue.”

“Haints are restless spirits of the dead who, for whatever reason, have not moved on from their physical world,” says Sawaya.

Haint blue, which can also be found on door and window frames as well as porch ceilings, is intended to protect the homeowner from being “taken” or influenced by haints. It is said to protect the house and the occupants of the house from evil.

Pardon the piss poor mock up and the dirty front porch (and the Christmas wreath) I didn't plan ahead on this post and just used a picture I had on flickr. I think any of these blues would constitute sky blue, haint blue, and hydrangea blue. Now to decide which one I want to go with.

Aha! When J and I were driving around town over the weekend I kept pointing out hydrangeas and telling him how much I like the blue ones. Beautiful! But perhaps this is also partly owing to the fact that it's one of the few bushes I can identify by name ...